The Allstate was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 offered for sale through the Allstate auto accessory chain of Sears, Roebuck during the 1952 and 1953 model years.

History

The Sears retail chain had tried selling cars under the name "Sears Motor Buggy

Lincoln Motor Car Works

Lincoln Motor Car Works was an automobile company in Chicago, Illinois. It produced cars for Sears Roebuck from 1908 until 1912. Nine models were offered, priced between US$325 and $475, with the Model L advertised at $495 complete. They were sold by mail, out of the Sears catalog...

" between 1908 and 1912 with some success. These horseless carriages were of the "high-wheeler" variety, looking much like horse-drawn buggies, with large wagon-type wheels. This type of passenger vehicle was popular in rural areas in the early part of the twentieth century, as their high ground clearance was well-suited to muddy, wagon-rutted country roads. Rural folks were accustomed to mail-ordering through the Sears catalog, and the Sears Motor Buggy could be delivered to the nearest railroad siding, an important convenience. Like virtually all Sears merchandise, these autos were manufactured by other companies and retailed by Sears.

Development

The Allstate was the brainchild of Henry J. Kaiser

Henry J. Kaiser

Henry John Kaiser was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. He established the Kaiser Shipyard which built Liberty ships during World War II, after which he formed Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Steel. Kaiser organized Kaiser Permanente health care...

, who saw Sears as another means to mass-market his slow-selling "Henry J" two-door sedan, introduced in 1950.

The Allstate was essentially a Henry J, but with a number of unique differences including Allstate badges on the hood and rear deck, a more upscale interior of Saran plaid or occasionally leather or smooth vinyl, special hubcaps/wheel covers, horn buttons and instrument bezels, a locking glove box and trunk lid, special engine color (blue), custom armrests and sunvisors, revised door locks and keys, and special parking and taillamp assemblies. Most notably, the Allstate featured a unique two-bar grille and jet-plane hood ornament designed by Alex Tremulis

Alex Tremulis

Alexander Sarantos Tremulis was an industrial designer in the North American automotive industry...

, who had come to Kaiser-Frazer from the Tucker Corporation

Preston Tucker

Preston Thomas Tucker was an American automobile designer and entrepreneur.He is most remembered for his 1948 Tucker Sedan , an automobile which introduced many features that have since become widely used in modern cars...

.

Allstate automobiles were planned to be built on the senior Kaiser platforms, but following three years of negotiations between Kaiser-Frazer

Kaiser-Frazer

The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was the result of a partnership between automobile executive Joseph W. Frazer and industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. In 1947, the company acquired the automotive assets of Graham-Paige, of which Frazer had been president before the Second World War...

 and Sears, Roebuck, the production Allstate was announced on November 20, 1951 by Sears merchandising vice president Theodore V. Houser and Kaiser-Frazer administrative vice-president Eugene Trefethen. The three-year delay was due in part to tension from existing Kaiser-Frazer dealerships fearing competition with Sears.

Production

The Allstate was built by Kaiser-Frazer

Kaiser-Frazer

The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was the result of a partnership between automobile executive Joseph W. Frazer and industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. In 1947, the company acquired the automotive assets of Graham-Paige, of which Frazer had been president before the Second World War...

 (Kaiser-Willys

Kaiser-Frazer

The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was the result of a partnership between automobile executive Joseph W. Frazer and industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. In 1947, the company acquired the automotive assets of Graham-Paige, of which Frazer had been president before the Second World War...

 from 1953), in Willow Run

Willow Run

The Willow Run manufacturing plant, located between Ypsilanti and Belleville, Michigan, was constructed during World War II by Ford Motor Company for the mass production of the B-24 Liberator military aircraft....

, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

  (Toledo

Toledo, Ohio

Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 from 1953) and was based on Kaiser's compact Henry J

Henry J

The Henry J was an American automobile built by the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation and named after its chairman, Henry J. Kaiser. Production of six-cylinder models began in July 1950, and four-cylinder production started shortly after Labor Day, 1950. Official public introduction was September 28, 1950....

. One body style was offered, a fastback two-door sedan in two lines, the Series 4 and the Series 6.

For 1952, the Series 4 came in the Model 111 Standard (the best seller at US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

1,486) and Model 113 DeLuxe ($1,539) trim versions, and was also available in an austere Model 110 Basic version for $1,395. The Series 6 Basic was priced at $1,594 and the well-trimmed, swift Model 115 DeLuxe was offered at $1,693. (The Standard was never offered in the Series 6.) They had a 100" wheelbase.

Virtually no appearance changes were made for 1953 but Allstate cars weighed as much as 145 lb (66 kg) more than their 1952 counterparts.
All the Allstate Basic models were dropped and Allstate prices jumped substantially; the entry-level Series 4 Standard Model 210 sold for $1,528 and the DeLuxe Model 213 for $1,589. The Series 6 was now only offered in the upscale DeLuxe Model 215 version at $1,785, and was the most popular Allstate that year.

The standard Allstate interior material was made from tightly twisted strands of paper that were woven together and then coated in plastic, which proved to be unusually durable as well as attractive and eliminated the need for seat covers. Seat covers were extremely popular in the 1950s, and many were made of this same type of material. (Chevrolet

Chevrolet

Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...

 would feature similar upholstery in its Chevrolet Biscayne

Chevrolet Biscayne

-Biscayne Fleetmaster:In 1960, a lower-priced, sparsely trimmed version of the Biscayne called the Fleetmaster was produced. Aimed primarily at the fleet market, the Fleetmaster included a lower grade of upholstery than the standard Biscayne and deleted routine convenience items such as a cigarette...

 and Chevrolet Bel Air

Chevrolet Bel Air

The Chevrolet Bel Air is a full-size automobile that was produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 1950–1975 model years. Hardtops in the Chevrolet Deluxe Styleline model range were designated with the Bel Air name from 1950–1952, but it was not a distinct series of its own until...

 lines in the early 1960s as well.)

Unlike early Henry Js, which were built without trunk lids to reduce costs, Allstates offered opening trunk lids.

Series 4 cars used a 134.2 CID L-head four-cylinder

Internal combustion engine

The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...

  68 hp engine, and the Series 6 was powered by a 161 CID L-head

Flathead engine

A flathead engine is an internal combustion engine with valves placed in the engine block beside the piston, instead of in the cylinder head, as in an overhead valve engine...

 six 80 hp, both powerplants built by Willys

Willys

Willys was the brand name used by Willys-Overland Motors, an American automobile company best known for its design and production of military Jeeps and civilian versions during the 20th century.-Early History:In 1908, John Willys bought the Overland Automotive Division of Standard Wheel Company...

. A three-speed manual transmission was standard with overdrive available for $104 extra.

One mechanical difference between Allstate and Henry J was that Allstates were equipped with Allstate-brand tires, tubes, spark plugs and batteries, all with their own Sears "Triple Guarantee" warranties.

Initially the Allstate was offered only in the south and southwest United States, with plans to expand distribution as demand for the product grew.
Sears locations selling Allstates included Baytown, Texas

Baytown, Texas

Baytown is a city within Harris County and partially in Chambers County in the Gulf Coast region of the U.S. state of Texas. Located within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area, it lies along both State Highway 146 and Interstate 10. As of 2010, Baytown had an population of 71,802...

, Beaumont, Texas

Beaumont, Texas

Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...

, Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

, Dallas, Texas, Fayetteville, North Carolina

Fayetteville, North Carolina

Fayetteville is a city located in Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is the county seat of Cumberland County, and is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a U.S. Army post located northwest of the city....

, Houston, Texas, Jackson, Mississippi

Jackson, Mississippi

Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...

, Knoxville, Tennessee

Knoxville, Tennessee

Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

, Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...

, Lubbock, Texas

Lubbock, Texas

Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...

, Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

, Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, Orlando, Florida

Orlando, Florida

Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

, Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

, Portsmouth, Virginia

Portsmouth, Virginia

Portsmouth is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 95,535.The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard, is a historic and active U.S...

, Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Waco, Texas

Waco, Texas

Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....

.

While some Sears outlets tried to stock at least one sample of the car, most were built on demand by Kaiser-Frazer

Kaiser-Frazer

The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was the result of a partnership between automobile executive Joseph W. Frazer and industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. In 1947, the company acquired the automotive assets of Graham-Paige, of which Frazer had been president before the Second World War...

, which made delivery to the store where they were sold. Kaiser-Frazer urged its dealers to service Allstate cars when asked. Many Kaiser-Frazer dealers were displeased to see "their cars" sold by another outlet, especially since the Allstate carried more standard equipment, yet sold at a lower price than the Henry J.

Sears marketed the car as "the lowest-priced full-sized sedan on the U.S. market." However, Sears did not accept trade-ins from Allstate buyers, and there may have been reluctance to buy a car through a department store where service was thought to be questionable. The lack of a trade-in program proved to be a serious impediment to the sale of Graham-Bradley tractors from Graham-Paige

Graham-Paige

Graham-Paige was an American automobile manufacturer founded by brothers Joseph B. Graham and Robert C. Graham , and Canadian Ray Austin in 1927. Automobile production ceased in 1940, and its automotive assets were acquired by Kaiser-Frazer in 1947...

 Motors Corp. by Sears in the late 1930s.

Only 2,363 Allstates were sold in two model years before the marque was discontinued; 1,566 during 1952 and 797 in 1953. Kaiser soon discontinued the Henry J as well.

External links

• The Allstate at RemarkableCars.com